Fanaticism is commonplace in gaming. Ceaseless battles rage across the vastness of the internet over whose console is superior, forums flame with debate over why Bioware beats Blizzard and today I saw “Halo is 4 n00bz” written in the snow. (Actually I wrote it myself just so I could put it on this list, but you get my point)
We’re probably all guilty of it to some extent. At school, me and my friends were Nintendo fanboys, and regarded PS2 owners with an air of intellectual revulsion. Ok, so we were kids, but this kind of thing goes on at all ages and for all people. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Valve, Naughty Dog, Activision, Square Enix all want our money. They want to use you. And yet we’ll still defend them in a fight.
One reason might be the sense that some companies are on your side. When you buy a game for your phone for 69p its hard not to fall a little bit in love, especially considering Infinity Ward are screwing you over for £39.99 a pop. Both companies are out for your cash, but the different ways they go about it have a huge impact on your attitude toward them. When you’re shelling out for Skyrim, a small part of you can’t help but question “is this really worth it?”.
Depends how you feel about horse physics
Today on Steam, the hugely popular online distribution platform, you can buy The Binding of Isaac for £3.99. You can walk away from that without a doubt that you got your money’s worth, and feeling good toward Steam. They’re not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts though; many small transactions can outweigh a few big ones. I even wonder if that feeling that Steam have almost done you a favour is their little way of stopping you from obtaining games via less scrupulous means.
We don’t just like games because they’re cheap though. People get fanatical about all kinds of games, big and small; I think some fans genuinely feel that their game has provided them with a better experience than one of its competitors. They get defensive because they feel this rival game is undermining the genre or diluting the market. That may truly be the case. They might just feel that people playing the rival game are missing out on the joy they could be getting out of this one. But I think we’re lacking a bit of perspective here: everything is a matter of opinion. Just because your current state of mind, gaming history and, hell, every element of your individuality means this one game is perfect for you doesn’t mean that’s true for everybody.
Cooking Mama 4: The perfect game for no-one
Regardless of both the above points, there are still Modern Warfare and Battlefield fanboys, who are paying top money for triple-A games (and thanking developers for the privilege). The experiences they provide aren’t all that different *runs for cover* (I know when you’re really into a genre small differences matter, but if you like shooting stuff, either one of these games is going to do the job). I think a lot people get behind these games for no other reason than because they want to support something. There’s something deep inside people that makes them need to be fans. Why do people support football teams? Why do people watch Coronation Street and not Eastenders? Really believing in something makes us feel good and, more importantly, makes us feel part of a group. Maybe it’s a kind of tribe mentality hanging around from 150,000 years ago. Only now we argue about whose metagame is the deepest instead of fighting to the death.
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